In order to carry out sorting tasks, in particular in trade and industry, sorting apparatuses, also called sorters, are known that, in a controlled manner, transport a product to be sorted from a loading plane to a specific discharge plane. For this purpose, the sorters generally have units that operate as a driving unit in a guide system, for example a rail system. In order to pick up a product to be sorted, a sorter cell, for example a tilt tray, or a conveyor belt running horizontally, known as a transverse belt, is fitted to the driving unit. In order to transport a plurality of items of products to be sorted using one driving unit, high-performance sorting systems are known in which a plurality of sorter cells are arranged one above another on one driving unit. The vertical distance between two cells located one above the other then substantially corresponds to the vertical distance and the level of the loading apparatuses and the sorting destinations. Such sorting destinations are, for example, planes in a rack system, into which the product to be sorted is intended to be classified. For instance, in the case of the known high-performance sorting systems having, for example, three sorter cells arranged one above another, the loading of a driving unit takes place in three planes, and the items of product to be sorted are then also discharged to the sorting destinations in these three planes. In this case, loading plane and discharge plane are, in each case, permanently assigned to one another.
Sorting apparatuses are also known that have the possibility of changing level. Here, a driving unit picks up an item of product to be sorted in one plane and can discharge it in a number of planes by means of an appropriate lifting mechanism, which can be moved, in a controlled manner, to various levels. In this case, the more discharge levels that can be driven to, the more sorting destinations that can be reached by such a known apparatus, but also the higher the technical expenditure for this level change, both with regard to the control, as well as with regard to the kinematics, of the apparatus.